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Mark Harper

Member of Parliament for
Forest of Dean

Born in 1970, Mark was educated at the Headlands School and Swindon College before studying PPE at Brasenose College, University of Oxford. Mark is a qualified Chartered Accountant, having worked for KPMG and Intel Corporation before establishing his own chartered accountancy practice in the Forest of Dean. Mark first stood as the Conservative candidate for the Forest of Dean in the 2001 General Election, reducing Labour's majority. In May 2005 he was elected as Member of Parliament for the Forest of Dean.

In Opposition, Mark served on the frontbench first as a Shadow Defence Minister, then as Shadow Minister for Disabled People.

Mark was re-elected as the Forest of Dean’s MP in 2010, serving in the Coalition Government first as Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform and then as Minister of State for Immigration. In July 2014, he was appointed Minister of State for Work & Pensions.

Mark was re-elected again at the 2015 General Election and served as Chief Whip under David Cameron.